try

the absolute love of my life up to the age of 16 was dance.  i loved to dance.  tap, jazz ballet, modern, and clogging were all types of dance i enjoyed doing.  i also enjoyed playing the piano.  two months after my 16th birthday my life changed dramatically.  i was in a car accident in which my neck was broken, my spinal cord was damaged and i was left a quadriplegic.  so not only was i unable to dance, i wasn't able to play the piano either.  (i still can pick out any song and play it with one finger...my kids are amazed at this feat!)

although i still get the urge at times to jump up and dance, i've found other loves in my life.  i love to cook and bake.  trying new recipes and tweaking them to my liking makes me happy. i feel very blessed  in two aspects in this area:  i have a kitchen that has been designed and built around my needs (being "wheelchair steph" and all!) and i have the use of my thumb on my right hand.  this enables me to use knives (a scary thought, i know.), to hold pans or bowls, to stir, turn on the stove or oven,  and use a mixer.  while some things turn out better than others, my husband said have never cooked him anything inedible in 17 years.  what a great complement!  come over sometime and i'll whip you up something tasty....

another love is crafting.  i love to create things.  after my accident i wasn't sure if i would be able to cross stitch, which i liked to do before. i figured out how to do it again, even with the compromised use of my hands.  i like other types of needlework too.  with the niffty knitter loom, i can knit hats for my kids.  my friend candace has enabled me to make wood crafts--she cuts the wood out with a variety of different saws (i am so grounded from power saws--just think about that for a minute and you'll know why...if you can't figure it out here's a hint:  my license plate says "oops"!) anyway, i love to paint the creations she cuts out i.e., pumpkins, snowmen, ornaments, nativity scenes, stars, flags.  i usually have something fun on my porch we've made together.

about 6 or 7 months ago i found the best website!  a lady named ana white post plans and instructions on how to make furniture--the kind of furniture i love but never want to pay the out-of-control prices charged. (check out her blog at www.ana-white.com you'll love it!) i'm not sure what came over me, but since my 3 year old needed to get out of her crib, i decided i wanted to make her a bed.  yes, a bed.  i probably should have started my furniture making adventure on something a bit smaller, but she needed a bed!

the major problem i have is that, while my right thumb works and is strong, my left thumb is very weak.  i can't hold a nail to hammer, so how am i going to build a bed?  i found a new love in my life:  it's called an auto hammer and it's f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c.  that's all i wanted for my birthday, and being a good husband who listened, that's what my sweetheart got me for my birthday.

so with use of my new tool i hammered away building the headboard and footboard.  i also learned how to use a drill to countersink the screws, i used a sander (i learned i needed to sand MORE than i did), i painted the bed (not sure i'm in love with the color, but it's o.k.) and with a little help here and there--attaching the posts to the head board and assembling all the parts when i was done--i actually built a bed for my daughter. 

sometimes in life we need all we need to do is TRY.  we need leave our comfort zone to try things that sometimes seem impossible or scary or maybe a little crazy.  how do we know if we can do it until we try?  i didn't know if i could do anything with my new life until i tried, including a simple thing like feeding myself or something a bit more challenging...like building a bed for my daughter.